Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by RDAdams:

My childbride offered to pick me up a six pack of whatever while she was out. So I asked her to stop at Perfect Pour in Columbia, MD and get me a six pack of Scotch Ale other than Belhaven.

The appearance is dark brown with red highlights.

The aroma is Strong Scotch Ale - Fruit, Malt, and Peat. But there's something else in here that I could not place until I read other reviews. It really is the smell of wet socks!

The taste would be better if you never tasted a Scotch Ale before. I've made a better Strong Scotch Ale than this and, like this one, I don't use hops. When you don't use hops, you need more to use more peat malt. It has a musty aftertaste that is consistent with the wet socks aroma.

More User Reviews:

12oz bottle purchased by my brother at Gravity in Olympia, WA, by my brother and given to me as a Christmas gift. According to the stamp on the label, this was bottled on October 29, 2014.

A rough pour into a Sierra Nevada shaker pint glass yielded a half inch of bubbly tan foam on top of a dark brown beer that gave up a tiny bit of rubyish highlights when held up to light. Said head dropped to a foamy skiff after a couple of minutes.

The aroma is sweetly malty, with hints of toffee and booze.

Sweet, malty and boozy flavor, in that order. First up is a caramel and brown sugary sweetness, with a slightly more vague taste of toffee in the immediate background. There’s a mild (but definitely there) warming alcohol sensation way in the back.

Coating, sticky mouthfeel. Not a lot of carbonation, but not low to the point of stagnancy.

A pretty good, “wee heavy,” but not quite what would be needed to vault this to the level of Silver City’s Fat, my personal favorite of the style. Still, it’s a quality beer, much as I expect from Great Divide. Thanks, Bro!

Poured into a nonic a deep mahogany brown with a tinge of amber,a toasted almond colored 1/2 finger head atop.Aromas have a slight smokiness along with some earth,juicy dark fruits come alive more as the beer warms.A big shot of dark fruit and caramel malt hits the palate from the onset,a sweet alcohol warming note comes in as the beer warms as well.A pretty solid Scottish ale with the peat-like smokiness and hefty fruitiness,pretty good.

Pours a deep brown color, appearing black and highly opaque in the center with only a little light shining through around the edges. Off-white, almost beige head settles down quick to a thin layer covering the top of the brew, not much lacing to be found. Aroma is hard to decipher at first - a lot of different things going on here, but they really start to become separable as the beer warms up a little bit. Polished mahogany, nutty, musky and earthy, herbal and weedy-type hops, deep, dark fruits, sweet toasted malt, and slight cocoa undertones. Vibrant and alive, very powerful aroma.

The taste delivers, as well. Full of a nice, roasty backbone - woody, nutty, musky on the malt side with touches of caramel and buttery sweetness here and there. Hops are more abundant than expected, but this is not a bad thing - weedy, earthy, musky, ashy, and a good balance to the malt. Some charcoal and slight smoke flavors last throughout the entirety of the beer and provide a nice mesh to the flavors taking place. Some fruit sweetness plays a smaller, but still important role; prunes, apples, raisins. Aftertaste includes a nice combo of yeast, smoke, spice, and herbal hop. Medium body, slick on the tongue, medium amount of carbonation.

This was the first non-Yeti brew I've had from Great Divide, and I was pretty impressed. Not my favorite Scotch Ale, but it's still damn good and I'd be happy to revisit this one anytime. A nice hop character along with subtle smokey hints and lots of malt flavors.

Pours a very deep, dark shade of brown. One finger head of creamy, light brown foam. Retention is good. Lacing is good in form, but quite slippery.

Nice, sweet malty nose. Hints of dark cherries floating in caramel toffee. A raft, made of brown sugar, floats by and the cherries climb aboard. On the raft, the cherries mingle with raisins, who say that they would offer them some bacon, but it is gone, with only a light hint of smoke remaining.

A big malty presence, as there should be. Not as overly sweet as the nose suggested it would be. Light hints of caramel and brown sugar mixed with some dark fruits. Unexpectedly, there is a definite note of coffee and some light chocolate hints. Quite surprising, to me, to find these here, but they work nicely. Light touch of smoke. Very mild hop kiss on the finish.

Good medium-full body. I would like it to be fuller, for my tastes, but it's not bad, by any means. Nice level of smooth creaminess.

Nicely drinkable, but not quite as good as I'd hoped. I'll revisit another bottle in the future and see how it goes.

S - Some woody and smokey notes as well as hints of licorice and chocolate.

T - The taste matches the nose with its wood/oak and smoked/roasted flavor. In addition, dark chocolate definitely comes through. It has a nice taste all the way through the sip. The finish is soft and there is no lingering bitterness.

M - Medium boded with light carbonation.

O - Although I am not too familiar with the style, this is a tasty brew and would enjoy drinking this any time. For the abv, this is immensely drinkable.

A – Pours a deep, rich brown/copper. One-finger head of really loose foam is a mauve khaki, and dissipates quickly, leaving some pockets of lace on the surface against the glass with an island of micro-bubbles in the middle. Held to a full-spectrum light, the beer is a dark mahogany and almost completely opaque, although what light gets through at the edge of the glass reveals the beer is not cloudy.

S – Roasted malts; deep, dark caramels, hints of milk chocolate. Grassy hops pop up with touches of alcohol, followed by notes of butterscotch, toffee, and vanilla as it warms in the glass.

T – Similar to the nose, caramels are more forward in the taste. Malts are beyond simply toasted, with a noticeable roast, like a light breakfast-blend coffee. Chocolate/toffee mixes with the roast in the back-end. There's a bit of earthy peat in there, too. Every so often, a dollop of rich butterscotch liquid will show up on the tongue. Earthy hops are present just enough to balance the sugars.

M – Just a touch of fizziness initially smooths out in the mouth. Body itself is surprisingly lighter than anticipated, given the color of the pour and the roast. Components are well-integrated. Short, dry finish focused on roast and hops.

O – This is the kind of Scotch ale you give a porter fan to make the bridge between the two styles. The roasted malts in this beer, for me, distract from their mission to transport caramel/butterscotch/toffee flavors, and the chocolate notes are simply out-of-place. That being said, it's a pretty interesting take on the style, and really pretty tasty. Forget what it's supposed to be and enjoy it for what it is: a robust porter dressing up as a Scotch ale.

Draught at the Brick Store. Body is a dark chestnut hue with a small tan head. Some patchy lacing.

Aroma is a bit muted. Hints of chocolate, roasted malts, red apples, and smoke. The smoke emerges more as it warms.

Solid medium body has a light medium carbonation and creamy texture.

Taste features toffee notes, a hint of pipe tobacco, and a really nice element of peated malt smokiness. The smokiness here really takes centerstage as the beer warms. Undertones of chocolate are subtle but add a nice hint of roastiness.

12 ouncer from a $13.99 (ouch) six-pack, bought at DeCiccios in Ardsley, NY. Bottled on 3-03-09 according to the lower right portion of the label. (Nice to get this type of info, I wish other quality minded breweries did the same for their customers)

The beer pours a dark brown color with an off-white head. The aroma is heavy on the chocolate and toffee malt with some dark fruit and peat character mixed in. Definitely smells like a Scotch ale.

The flavor is similar. I get a lot of dark fruit, with the majority tasting like cherries and prunes. There is also a lot of toffee and caramel malt with a little bit of peat smoke and alcohol mixed in.

Poured a deep mahogany, opaque, with a short ring of off-white bubbles. Some lacing at first, but dissipates halfway down the glass. Rich caramel and smoke aroma. Some chocolate and toffee, but always with a nice lingering smoke. Smooth, slick mouthfeel with a long finish. Hearty malt profile. More smoke, kind of peaty, but matched with the caramel malt. Bit of a hop bitterness towards the back. Again, toffee and cocoa flavors come out as the beer warms. A very good example of the style.